maslows humanistic theory of personality

what is humanistic psychology

a perspective that emphasises looking at the whole person and the uniqueness of each individual

what assumptions does humanistic psychology begin with

begins with the assumptions that people have free will, are basically good, and are motivated to achieve their potential

how did the humanistic approach in psychology develop?

as a rebellion against what some psychologists saw as limitations of the behaviourist and psychodynamic psychology, thus it is often called the ‘third force’ after psychoanalysis and behavioursim

what does humanistic psychology reject

rejects the assumptions of behaviourist Skinner and others, which is characterised as deterministic, focused on reinforcement, stimulus-response behaviour and heavily dependent on animal research

what else did humanistic psychology reject

the psychodynamic approach of freud and others because it is also deterministic with unconscious, irrational and instinctive forces determining thought and behaviour

both behaviourism and psychoanalysis are regarded as :

dehumanising by humanistic psychologists

assumption of free will + personal agency

\-begins with the assumption that people have free will

\-personal agency is the humanistic term for the exercise of free will

\-personal agency refers to the choices we make in life, the path we go down and its consequences

humanistic psychology says that people are basically good and:

have an innate desire to make themselves and the world better

humanistic approach emphasises the

personal worth of the individual, centrality of human values and the creative, active nature of human beings

the approach is optimistic

optimistic and focuses on the noble human capacity to overcome despair, hardship and pain

humanistic approach says that people are motivated to what

self actualise

what is self actualisation

realisation or the fulfilment of ones talents and potentials

it means becoming the best versions of ourselves that we can be

both maslow and rogers regarded what

personal growth and fulfillment in life as a basic human motive

meaning that each person, in different ways, seeks to grow psychologically and continuously enhance themselves

they believe human strive towards self-actualisation

in humanistic psychology, what is most important

the subjective, conscious experience of the individual are most important

\-objective reality is less important than a persons subjective perception and understanding of the world

what is the difference in how humanistic psychologists conduct research

they reject the normal scientific methodology and instead use qualititative data such as open ended questionnaires, diary accounts , unstructured interviews and unstructured observations

why did research on rats and pigeons and monkeys hold little value to humanistic psychologists

because they view human beings as being fundamentally different from other animals, mainly because they are conscious beings capable of thought, reasoning and language and they said research on animals informs very little about human behaviour and experience

what other research on humans did humanistic psychologists reject

on people with mental health issues to understand normal people

instead they believed it was better to study ‘good specimens’

strengths of humanistic psychology

* qualititative data gives genuine insight and more holistic information into behaviour
* shifted the focus on behaviour to individual/whole person rather than the unconscious mind, genes, observable behaviour etc
* satisfies most people idea of what it means to be human as it values personal ideals and fulfillment
* has real life applications eg therapy

limitations of humanistic psycholgy

* do not conduct experimenta
* lack emperical evidence
* untestable concepts eg ‘self actualisation’
* ethnocentric - many ideas are readily associated with the individualistic cultures of western world, collectivist cultures such as india may not identify so easily because they emphasise interdependence and the needs of the group

what did maslow propose

a heirarchy of needs with 5 levels that start with basic physiological needs and end with self actualisation

maslow concluded it was necessary to

satisfy at least partially on the lower levels before needs on higher levels could be satisfied

in order list maslows heirarchy of needs

1. self actualisation
2. esteem needs
3. belongingness and love needs
4. safety needs
5. physiological needs

what happens if a person is failing to satisfy needs at a lower level

they may need to sacrifice higher levels and disregard them

who did maslow study

who he thought were ‘good specimen’ of people who had achieved self-actualisation such as Albert einstein and abraham lincoln

from these people what did he indentify

the behaviours that led to self-actualisation, critics pointed out that his list of behaviours of selc-actualised people were really just a list of his own values